Tuesday, 26 April 2016

AuT chief Shafi Armar reported dead in US air strike

NIA Seeks Details On ISIS' India Chief Killed In US Airstrike

NEW DELHI: The Islamic State's chief recruiter has been killed in a US airstrike in Syria last week, ending a large
hunt of security agencies for a man considered "extremely crucial" in
setting up the terror network's fledgling bases in the country, official
sources said on Monday.

The sources said India was informed by American officials about the
death of Mohammed Shafi Armar, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka, who
headed and recruited Indians for the Islamic State and its regional
franchisee Jund ul Khalifa-e-Hind (The Army of the Indian Caliphate).

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) considered Armar the brain behind the Islamic State's online recruitment in India.

"We
have been informed about his death by the US. We don't know where he
was killed and exactly. We were told that he died in a US strike," an
official told IANS.

The official, requesting not to be named, said the details surrounding Armar's death were being sought from the Americans.

Armar recruited youngsters for the Jund ul Khalifa-e-Hind by
radicalising them online and luring them to jihad. He earlier headed the
Ansar-ul Tawhid fil Bilad al-Hind -- "Supporters of Monotheism in the
land of India" -- a breakaway faction of the Indian Mujahideen.

Armar's death comes exactly a year after Indian security and
intelligence officials in April 2015 busted a terror cell in Madhya
Pradesh. Five terrorists arrested in Ratlam were said to be among the
first recruits linked to the Islamic State.

The sources said the chief of the busted cell, identified as Irfan Khan, was directly recruited by Armar in March 2014.

Armar, who was the former Indian Mujahideen member, had also recruited
14 Indian men who were arrested by the NIA in January while they were
planning terror strikes in India. The United Arab Emirates deported in
January this year three Indians who were allegedly working under Armar.

His death is likely to deal a major blow to Islamic State's plan of
expanding in India, particularly in Kashmir where the group had recently
vowed "to fight the cow-worshipping Hindus and the apostates from
factions allied to the idol-worshippers of Pakistan, such as the
Lashkar-e-Taiba".

"It is a setback for the group," the official said.

"However, it doesn't end the (group's expansion) plans for India. The
ISIS is expanding in the neighbourhood and we are aware of that," the
official said, referring to the group with acronym that stands of
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The official said that Armar was believed to have been in touch with at
least 800 Indians through online platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp
groups.

The Islamic State, which governs a vast territory in Iraq and Syria, has
a faction in Afghanistan and Pakistan called "Wilayat-e-Khorasan". The
faction is headed by Khan Saeed, who formerly fought alongside the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.